Paper II, Unit 1: Evolution of Indian Administration
Read administrative history to explain present institutions.
Read administrative history to explain present institutions. The relevant question is not only what existed, but which problems an arrangement addressed, who benefited, and which legacies persisted after its original purpose changed.
Official wording of this unit: see the Paper II syllabus (unit 1).
Syllabus phrases and how to read them
| Syllabus phrase | Meaning and preparation focus |
|---|---|
| Kautilya’s Arthashastra | Study statecraft, organisation, revenue, officials, supervision, welfare and security as a connected framework. Avoid equating ancient monarchical welfare duties with modern democratic accountability. |
| Mughal administration | Understand central, provincial and local relations, mansabdari, jagirdari and revenue administration. Compare formal centralisation with bargaining, intermediaries and uneven implementation. |
| British political-administrative legacy | Explain revenue extraction, order, district concentration of authority and bureaucratic hierarchy. Distinguish institutional continuity from continuity of political legitimacy. |
| Indianisation of services | Study changes in entry, representation and control. The replacement of personnel did not automatically transform the organisation’s orientation. |
| Revenue and district administration | Trace why revenue, magisterial and coordinating roles accumulated around the Collector and how subsequent development functions altered the office. |
| Local self-government | Examine limited colonial local institutions and their fiscal and supervisory dependence. Use this background to explain the later struggle for substantive self-government. |
Avoid both romanticising the past and describing independent India as administratively unchanged. Constitutional democracy, welfare expansion, representation and elected local bodies change the environment in which inherited structures operate. Explain persistence and transformation together.
Paper I: ecology, bureaucracy and development dynamics. Example: the Collector’s survival may reflect adaptability and the continuing need for coordination; it can also raise questions about concentration of power and the autonomy of elected local institutions.
Which colonial administrative legacies are functional continuities, and which conflict with democratic decentralisation?
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